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Week 2 of Training Camp [Wells Blog]

I had to laugh when I read Keauhou’s comment about me possibly becoming a Pacers fan.

Come on now, you know that’s not going to happen. I don’t like the Pacers and I don’t dislike them, either.

What I like to see is well played basketball. Jim O’Brien will have his team playing the game the right way. They’ll be fundamentally sound and they’re going to play hard.

How many victories will that translate into for the Pacers?

I don’t know.

The word around the organization is that they’re going to surprise some teams this season. I’ve got to see them play before I can say they’ll sneak up on people and be a playoff team.

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I got an email from a reader asking me why O’Brien is allowing the media to watch practice and Rick Carlisle didn’t.
There’s a league rule that says the media is allowed to watch the final 30 minutes of practice.
The final 30 minutes consisted of shooting drills, free throws and stretching under Carlisle.

The Pacers are usually still scrimmaging when O’Brien let’s the media into practice.

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Here’s my surprises in camp so far.
Travis Diener: Bigger point guards will probably try to get physical with Diener and post him up. The thing he does well is shoot the ball. I only saw him miss one shot in practice Monday. Andre Owens is going to push Diener for the back up point guard spot.

Stephen Graham: The only thing I really knew about Graham coming into camp is that he’s Joey’s twin brother.
Team officials like his outside shooting touch and aggressive defense.

Jermaine O’Neal: O’Neal isn’t considered a surprise because everybody knows what he can do. He’s looked good getting up and down the court on transition. I told him after practice one day that he’s slimmed down so much that he looks like he did in Portland. He’s not really that small, but he’s definitely lighter.

Who hasn’t shown me much
Kareem Rush: Rush’s ankle injury hasn’t allowed him a lot of court time. The injury may put him behind in the fight to crack the rotation spot, especially since O’Brien said he’ll probably have four players playing the wing. Danny Granger, Mike Dunleavy and Marquis Daniels are the top three players at that position. The best part of Rush’s game is his jump shot. But the thing is, he’s got to be able to show O’Brien that he can defend to get on the court.

Re: Week 2 of Training Camp [Wells Blog]

I like that JO has slimmed down. he isn't a physical player and he shouldn't try to be, His best physical gift is his quickness - he needs that more than anything else

I agree, not everyone can haul around the extra bulk. Even being muscle it make it hard on the body when you bulk up so quickly. you body is used to playing at a certain weight and when you add 10 to 20 pounds in a few short months your feet, chins and overall your legs really take a toll.

Although I they will probably never admit it, I think it is the reason why JO has been troubled the last few years. His best years when he was a little slimmer.

The difference in 20 pounds of weight may be what. a extra 10 pounds in curling, 20 to 30 pounds in bench.. 50 pounds in squat. To me that isnt worth my quickness. JO needs to find the right balance and I pray that this year he does.

I know about a year ago I went from around 210 to about 230 when I started lifting like crazy and my basketball game went to hell. I play 2 times a week and the game just didnt seem to play the same. I was not as quick. My jumping ability was down several inches and I was winded very easy. I slimmed down 10 pounds and everything was back to normal.

Re: Week 2 of Training Camp [Wells Blog]

I got an email from a reader asking me why O’Brien is allowing the media to watch practice and Rick Carlisle didn’t.
There’s a league rule that says the media is allowed to watch the final 30 minutes of practice.
The final 30 minutes consisted of shooting drills, free throws and stretching under Carlisle.

The Pacers are usually still scrimmaging when O’Brien let’s the media into practice.

So a team that spent at least 30 minutes shooting at the end of practices was last in FG%. What will a team that doesn't shoot in practice look like? Or is it just that they shoot first and scrimmage last?

Or is it that really this whole "JOB lets in the media" thing is just smoke up our rear and really not that big a deal? That's where I put my vote. I saw the last few FanJam scrimmages and I never left thinking "well, this team stinks". Go look at people's post FanJam reports from the last few years. My guess is that they look a lot like Wells' comments from the scrimmages he's watched.

I can't help but think that part of what is impressing Wells is just seeing something that on the surface seems tangible but in reality doesn't always show that much. Compared to not seeing scrimmages I'm sure all the movement and action seems like a lot, but I saw all of those things with the summer league too. Then guys face reality and outside teams and lineups of other starters rather than bench guys, and suddenly you see why they didn't win the previous year or why the new players weren't tearing it up elsewhere.

This team MIGHT be better (note this please, I'm not 100% down on the team) but I just think scrimmages at the ends of practice are a very tough read. We're really still speculating all over the place. It feels a little like an extension of the hype machine more than real feedback.

Let me give one example to show my point - Fred Jones, say I reported this "He was going strong off the ball, dunking almost at will, and knocking down the outside jumper at a solid rate. He'll push Jackson for the starting SG spot."

What is missing there is "Fred still hasn't learned to go left and has yet to add any offense outside of the 3 or the right side drive for the dunk attempt. He still jumps in the air and then passes wildly to the wing which resulted in so many turnovers last year."

Both would be TRUE. Only 1 of those really tells you if things have improved or not. That's how a scrimmage report can be pretty leading yet seem substantial.

If Diener is so lights out (which I fully believe based on his history) then why is Andre Owens pushing him for the BU PG spot still? Is TD that poor in other areas that a JOB team can't use his 40% from 3 for 20 minutes a night?

Is Owens really a hidden find? I don't recall seeing it in summer ball myself.

Rush - look, this is by far the biggest need the team had and what we need to be hearing is that it's Rush, not Diener, that is dropping the 3 like a madman and is pushing his way into major minutes. I consider Rush one of the fundamental guys for a miracle Pacers turnaround.

Think about the Fred Jones example above. Now consider that Rush was sent packing by the NBA, including a question of his effort. Now consider Wells brief comment about his defense. That to me says "uh oh".

I don't want to know about what got Rush drafted, I want to know if the things that got him put out of the NBA have been fixed or not.

JO - I'm one of his biggest fans on PD. Maybe not DatDude level, but big. I thought he was brilliant last year in spite of his FG% and that a big reason his scoring wasn't more efficient was the talent around him. I'm not the least bit surprised to hear about his impressive camp.

The problem hasn't been JO, that's the issue here. That's like in summer 97 hearing that Reggie was looking good from 3...not the problem in the season unspoken.

Re: Week 2 of Training Camp [Wells Blog]

JOB is really good at praise. If you notice we have not heard anything negative about any player yet. This is something a good manager knows how to do. Praise your players and they will like you. The more the like you the more you can push them. There is no reason right now to go yelling at the media that diener sucks and owen's sucks to. The more he praises the harder this team will work.

We wont be able to filter the BS until the first few games which is ok by me. The more articles that come out the easier it is to wait.

Re: Week 2 of Training Camp [Wells Blog]

If Diener is so lights out (which I fully believe based on his history) then why is Andre Owens pushing him for the BU PG spot still? Is TD that poor in other areas that a JOB team can't use his 40% from 3 for 20 minutes a night?

Is Owens really a hidden find? I don't recall seeing it in summer ball myself.

Rush - look, this is by far the biggest need the team had and what we need to be hearing is that it's Rush, not Diener, that is dropping the 3 like a madman and is pushing his way into major minutes. I consider Rush one of the fundamental guys for a miracle Pacers turnaround.

Think about the Fred Jones example above. Now consider that Rush was sent packing by the NBA, including a question of his effort. Now consider Wells brief comment about his defense. That to me says "uh oh".

I don't want to know about what got Rush drafted, I want to know if the things that got him put out of the NBA have been fixed or not.

I don't necessarily know that Andre Owens pushing Diener means that Diener is "that deficient," so much as I think Owens is a stronger defender with enough offense. I'm not saying I disagree with you, but I'd like to see them play during the preseason to get a feel fior what Mike is talking about. As far as Rush, it doesn't sound like he's not producing on the court, so much as he hasn't been able to get on it due to injury. I think it's much too early to use the "out of the league" card on him just yet. Wells just pointed out that he hasn't been able to evaluate him since he's been injured. That would include his evaluation on defense. I would be more worried if he was healthy, and then Mike had written that about him. I'm like you, in that I'd like to see these guys in games, rather than judge their performances in a controlled scrimmage, or team practice.

Re: Week 2 of Training Camp [Wells Blog]

I'm thrilled that Jermaine's dropping some weight. He's picked it up so that he can defend the post better, which I respect, but it doesn't help his offensive game at all, and it makes him much more fragile. He was a lot more durable at 235 than he was at 255.

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